On The Fly: A-Rod Homer No Match For The Hidden Ball Trick

Evan Longoria Pulls Off Some Good Clean Fun

August 11, 2013|By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

It had to happen eventually, you know. AlexRodriguez, yes, that guy, hit his first home run since September 2012. He hit it in Yankee Stadium against Justin Verlander of the Tigers. John Sterling got to say 'That's an A-Bomb, by A-Rod.' And the Yankees fined A-Roid $150,000 (one day's pay) for not showing up for work July 12 after spending the first part of it dealing with PED fallout and MLB. And so it goes. But at least Brett Gardner's walk-off homer sent the fans home happy.

•Did you see the old hidden ball trick successful turned by Tampa on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium? Third baseman Evan Longoria had the ball in his glove waiting for Juan Uribe of the Dodgers to step off third base in the fourth inning. Uribe did. Longoria applied the tag. Uribe was out. His embarrassment was not hidden… Rays starter David Price has a dog named "Astro" in homage to the great George Jetson, Jane his wife, daughter Judy and his boy Elroy. ... Mets starter Jeremy Hefner, no relation to Hugh, had been one the best pitchers in baseball for a month surrounding the All-Star break. Now he has been demoted to Triple A Las Vegas. He will have his right elbow examined before he reports, and if doctors find something wrong, he'll be placed on the disabled list instead. Don't you think something is wrong: Hefner has allowed 26 runs over 22 2/3 innings in his past five starts.

•Michael Jordan, essentially the NBA until LeBron showed up, showed off some this weekend at his annual Michael Jordan Flight School at UC Santa Barbara. He dunked for participants while wearing a pair of jeans. Geez, most guys 50 years old still have trouble dunking a doughnut. Maybe he can help the Timberwolves.

•Don't you just love it when your favorite NFL's team's season is ended by an exhibition game injury to the quarterback? Well, Jets fans, your luck is changing. Turns out rookie Geno Smith suffered just a mild ankle sprain last week in Detroit. He shouldn't miss any time, just in case you're worried that Mark Sanchez may still run the offense this season. … If you are wondering why Giants receiver Victor Cruz took some spice out of his post-touchdown salsa dance Saturday in Pittsburgh, it's because every step saved in August may be important in December.

• Her team played the Washington Mystics at the Verizon Center on Sunday, and Sun coach Anne Donovan went around the room asking for suggestions and thoughts following a 74-63 loss that dropped the team to 6-15 – the worst record in the WNBA. A new starting lineup may be the start.